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Jack and Sam were just sitting down to their lunch when the Jacksons entered the cafeteria. Daniel filled a tray, Casey grabbed two mugs of coffee, and they joined their best friends.

"So, does Cammy still think you suspect Methos?" Jack asked.

Casey took a bite of her sandwich, nodded. "So far so good. Oh, Daniel, don't let me forget to have that information sent down to him," she said.

"What information?" Jack asked immediately.

"About Christmas. I don't think he really gives a rat's ass one way or the other, but it will give him something to do," Casey replied.

"He's infatuated with her," Daniel said softly.

She jerked. "He's what?"

Daniel smiled. "I saw his face when you were leaving the room. He was still undressing you with his eyes. No doubt he has every intention of making you his Consort after he's taken over Gamma."

"Over my dead body," she mumbled.

"Which part, taking over Gamma, or making you his Consort?" Sam teased.

"Yes," Casey replied. She looked at Daniel. "It's because of that 'Hathor-gene' thing, isn't it?" she asked softly.

"Probably," he admitted quietly.

"I don't suppose there's a way to get rid of that, is there?" she asked grumpily.

"Nope." Not that he would want her to, he thought. So damned sweet! He could run his tongue over his lips and taste her, that sweetness. He had indulged in that sweet honey that morning. Just like every morning since her return. And he'd taste her again tonight, before they went to sleep. No doubt he was 'double-dosing' himself, which meant that he had probably cut in half the amount of time he could manage to survive without tasting her, having her. He smiled to himself. He was a regular junkie when it came to Her!

Jack had taken note of the look in Daniel's eyes. Bit back a smile. He had no doubt that the young archaeologist was thinking about those special pheromones, and what they did to him… for him. Daniel had admitted to him that he was thrilled to be addicted to his wife, that it was worth any inconvenience, any discomfort him might suffer because of it. He had also confirmed that she tasted every bit as sweet as she smelled. A thought that often tormented the older man. He was head-over-heels, crazy in love with Sam. Didn't mean that his eyes and nose had stopped working.

"So Methos and Wade are on their way to claim the rest of Cammy's planets," Sam said.

"If Cam really thinks Methos is Goa'uld, then we know that he has the other snakes completely fooled as well," Casey said.

"He might be doing nothing more than trying to pit us against one another," Daniel observed. "It would make taking us over that much easier."

Casey shook her head. "No, I don't think so. He needs us to take the other snakes out. He'll use us, and then turn."

Jack nodded. "That makes the most sense strategically. He wants us to keep Methos under 'control'. Probably thinks we'll send him back to his throne, along with someone, maybe even a team, to keep an eye on him."

"He's hoping it will be Case," Daniel said quietly.

"He can hope 'til hell freezes over," Casey retorted. "He knows I'm happily married!"

Daniel chuckled. "I've noticed you manage to work that into every conversation."

Jack and Sam grinned. They had been reading the transcripts of each conversation between the young Immortal and the Goa'uld.

"Just want to make sure he remembers," she mumbled. Her companions laughed. She took a bite of her sandwich, then glanced at Jack. "So what are the long term plans for him?"

The older man frowned. "This afternoon Duncan and I are going to talk to him. See if he has any information that we can use."

"That's the long term plan?" she asked incredulously.

"If he doesn't have anything, Methos will come for him," was the resigned reply.

"Oh." She forced herself to think about the damage, the heartache, the chaos that Camulus had already caused on so many planets, in so many Innocent lives. Tried to remember that given the chance, he would enslave Gamma, and she had no doubt that he would kill Daniel the first chance he got. She wondered briefly if he would kill her babies as well. The pain from those thoughts wasn't enough to help her overcome the guilt she was feeling.

'Don't do it.'

She looked up into blue eyes that were so full of love that it took her breath away. 'Don't do what?'

'Don't sit there and feel guilty. Camulus is a Goa'uld, Case. He can't be trusted. He deserves to die for all of the Innocent people he's already tortured and killed.'

'I know.' She studiously examined her salad, moving the greens around in the bowl with precision.

'There were people who thought Jack the Ripper was a nice guy, too.'

Green eyes met blue once again. Saw the concern there. 'I suppose that even Jack had his good points. If you could get past the slashing women apart thing.'

Daniel grinned. 'I suppose so. But it was all superficial. On the inside he was an evil man.'

'I suppose I should view it as freeing the host.'

'That's one way to look at it.'

"Ahem." Jack cleared his throat quietly. "Is everything all right?"

Casey grinned. No matter how much he tried to pretend, Jack was much more astute than anyone realized. "Everything is fine," she replied.

"Good. Daniel, are we still on for Christmas shopping tonight?"

The young archaeologist nodded. "Yep."

"You guys are sad, just getting started on your shopping, four days before Christmas," Sam teased. "Casey and I were done weeks ago!"

"Who said we're just getting started?" Daniel asked, his eyes dancing. He grinned at the wide-eyed look Casey gave him, the speculation that filled those green eyes.

"I've already checked all your hiding places, and there aren't any packages there!" she exclaimed. Then clamped a hand over her mouth.

Daniel burst into laughter. "You little sneak! That's why I'm keeping them in the safe. In my office."

Which is freaking password protected, she thought grumpily. Although figuring out the password shouldn't be too difficult. Unless he had the alarm feature turned on. Then she'd only have three chances before the noise and light show started.

"Don't even think about it. You'll never figure it out," he warned.

She frowned, then sighed. The man could read sixty-five languages now. No doubt he would chose some ridiculous word or phrase, and then pick some obscure dialect of some little known language to put it in.

"Give it up, girlfriend," Sam laughed. "You'll find out on Christmas morning."

"But half the fun is shaking the boxes to see if you can guess what's in them!" Casey insisted.

Alarms began to sound, the ear-wrenching noise going off every three seconds. "Security Breach, Level Sixteen!"

The four members of SG-1 were on their feet with the first alarm, and were already through the door when the message blared over the intercom. Somehow, someway, Camulus had found a way to escape.

A  A  A  A  A  A

The Goa'uld looked at the round-faced man. "Who are you?"

"We'll worry about introductions later," the man said. "We have to go, now! I can get us topside, and to the spaceport. Here, this is a list of the ships that I think would be the most acceptable for taking and getting away from here."

Camulus looked at the paper. "I do not read Tau'ri," he said coldly. "Nor will I go with you."

The man looked at him, wide-eyed. "You want to sit here in a prison cell until they execute you?"

"I will not be the reason for her death!" Camulus roared.

"Whose death?"

"Casey Jackson!"

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen!" the man sneered.

"If I betray her trust, they will behead her," Camulus said.

"No, they won't. They'll tell you that. But it will never happen."

His eyes flashed. "I do not believe you."

"Come with me, and I'll prove it to you."

The Goa'uld glanced around the tiny cell. As much as he wanted to protect her, as much as he already loved her, he wanted the freedom to re-establish himself as a System Lord not to be trifled with. If this man was lying to him, he would die slowly. He gave a curt nod, accepted the zat'nik'tel, and followed the short, rotund man into the corridor. Both of the guards were down, he had no idea if they were dead or merely stunned.

The man ran toward the secondary elevator, knowing that the main elevator would be on hold, accepting only certain ID tags. According to what he had read earlier, there was a limited amount of time to use the secondary elevator. He swiped the tag taken from one of the guards. The doors opened.

As soon as the elevator was moving, Camulus wrapped his hand around the man's throat and slammed him against the wall of the car. "Who are you?"

"I am Andrew Rogers. Your new Advisor."

"I have no need of an advisor. Certainly not a Tau'ri!"

Rogers calmly point the zat at the Goa'uld. "I'm helping you escape. I can help you get away from Gamma. I will advise you on how the Tau'ri think, how best to deal with them. In return, I will be your second-in-command. With all the benefits and payment that entails."

Camulus tightened his hold on the man's neck, batted the zat from the sweaty hand. "I should kill you right now for your insolence!"

For the very first time since this forming this plan…thinking about it, examining it, perfecting it…Andrew Rogers realized that the participants in his scheme might not behave as predicted. "You owe me your life!" he sputtered.

"I owe you nothing!" Camulus spat angrily. "If she is wounded, in anyway, as punishment for my escape, I will kill you with my bare hands!"

"She won't be," Rogers insisted.

The Goa'uld thought about the conversation with her in the cell on the Phoenix II. When her soft, warm body had been beside him on the narrow cot. She had been frightened, she was afraid of retaliation. Of that much he was certain. Perhaps they would not behead her. Even though she was Immortal, killing her would cause pain.

The elevator doors opened on level eleven. The guards were waiting for them, guns drawn. He had only seconds to make up his mind. Instinct took over as his heart hesitated. He began firing the zat, taking down one guard, the others jumping for cover behind the half walls that prevented anyone from by-passing the doorframe-shaped security screen.

With no other options, Camulus grabbed Rogers, used him as a shield, holding the man in front of him, forcing his way toward freedom. He could see the elevator that would lead him to the top of the facility and into the sunshine of Gamma. Running backwards, Rogers still a human shield, he managed to get to the elevator.

He was as shocked when it opened as the lovely blonde woman who stepped out. He roughly shoved her forward, into the line of fire. She stumbled, fell to her knees. The guards had stopped firing at him the minute the doors had opened. He fell backwards into the car, the doors closing before the guards could reach him.

Rogers was shaking, sweat pouring off of his overweight frame. "Now what?"

Camulus snorted. "You tell me. This was your plan, remember?" He turned loose of the man, pushed him toward the opposite wall.

Rogers straightened himself, tugged his tunic back into place. "Yes, of course. There are two guards on duty at the first check-in point."

"I'm sure there are more there by now," Camulus replied dryly.

"Possibly. The desk is to the right of the elevator. I suggest you open fire as soon as the doors open. Then we will exit through the double plate glass doors. There will be no other checkpoints until we reach the gate. It will be no problem, I simply won't stop as required. I'll drive straight to the spaceport."

"You have a ship there?"

"No, but I know which ones will be the easiest to take," Rogers replied.

"And if we do manage to get a ship, are you prepared to pilot the craft?"

The brown-haired man frowned.  He had assumed that the Goa'uld would be able...and willing...to pilot the vessel.  "I'm a linguistics expert, not a shuttle pilot."

"Then pray that the pilot of the craft we shall…appropriate…is on board. Otherwise this escape attempt will be quite short lived. I have no doubt that you will be executed along side of me if we are caught.

Rogers' face paled. He hadn't considered any possible ramifications of his actions, he had been so able to convince himself that his plan was fool-proof. Theory and reality, he was learning, were two very different things.

"Are there ships in orbit above Gamma?"

"I believe so…yes, I know that the Phoenix is there," Rogers replied, his voice shaking.

"You are a fool, and I a bigger one for following you!" Camulus spat.

"We could still make it!" Rogers insisted.

"I think not." The Goa'uld sighed. He had always known, somehow, that he would die at the hands of the Tau'ri. Was fairly sure it would be at the hands of SG-1. He had not thought that his death would occur so soon.

A  A  A  A  A  A

The team slid to a halt in the corridor outside of the cell where Camulus had been held. The guards were still down, but breathing. Whoever had shot them had used a zat, and had only fired once.

Jack hit the button on the intercom. "Med team to level sixteen. Seal all entrances, I repeat, seal all entrances!"

The huge, six-foot thick blast doors that were the only way into the mountain after passing the first checkpoint began to close. The secondary elevator doors opened just minutes after the order had been given. By the time Camulus and his would-be rescuer could reach the massive door, there wasn't enough room to slip by it. Furious, Camulus swung his arm, his fist impacting on Rogers' face and sending the man sprawling backwards, to fall on his substantial ass.

Seconds later the main elevator opened, and Marines surrounded the two men. Camulus tossed the zat to the floor, raised both hands shoulder high. He could only hope that this… incident…would not cause trouble, or harm, for Casey.

A  A  A  A  A  A

They were sitting in the conference room. Camulus had demanded to see Casey, but she had yet to go to visit him. Andrew Rogers was completely uncooperative, refusing to answer any questions until he had an attorney present.

Duncan had his hands tented in front of his face, rested his lips against his fingers. "Casey, you said you wanted to go on stage. How do you feel about doing a movie?"

Every one of the team members started, looked hard at the dark haired Highlander. "Excuse me?" Casey said.

The Scot grinned. "We're going to behead you. I'm certain that we can get a film made that will show just that. Then we'll play it for Cammy and see what happens."

"Gets you out of having to visit him every day," Sam grinned.

"Do you have someone in mind who can do this?" Jack asked.

"Kyle. He's a regular whiz kid when it comes to manipulating images. He's been doing videos for a couple of the local bands," Duncan replied.

"How long do you suppose it would take him to put something like this together?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know. In the meantime, we're going to make a big production of arresting Casey," the Scot continued. "Daniel, I want you arguing loudly with Jack, Casey, you're in shock…a few tears would be good. I’m going to have Cammy transferred from the holding cell he's in to a more secure cell…at the same time that they bring you down."

Casey giggled. "Have Turk and his guys take me. We did a little acting on the Phoenix."

Duncan nodded. "Okay, meet back here in…thirty minutes. I'm going to talk to Kyle right now."

Daniel looked over at his wife. "How long are you going to keep her locked up?"

"Just until Cammy is tucked away safe and sound in the back cell," Duncan grinned. "Of course, there will be so much commotion on the day we execute her that he'll be able to hear it all."

Chuckles moved around the table.

"And then Methos picks Cammy up, right?" Casey asked.

The Highlander nodded again.

"What about Rogers?" Jack asked.

"He's going to stand trial for treason."

"Do you think Camulus might know anything that would be of any help to us?" Sam asked.

"I doubt it," Jack replied. "He's been fairly quiet all of these years, staying hidden in one little corner of the galaxy. Any intel he has on Amaterasu and Morganna has probably already fallen into Methos' hands."

"Well, if he does know anything, chances are he's going to try and use it to bargain for Casey's life," Daniel mused.

"I wonder how he'll like being on the short end of the stick," Jack asked. "I'm sure there have been people who have begged him to spare loved ones."

"Payback's a bitch," Daniel replied. It wasn't often that the hatred the young archaeologist held for Goa'uld was plainly seen. But occasionally that hatred filled his blue eyes. As it did in that moment. And it caused everyone in the room to shiver at its depth.

Duncan stood to his feet. "Get Turk and his men together, and take Casey down. Make it good, honey," he said, winking at the young blonde.

"You can count on me," she said, saluting smartly, to the laughter of her teammates.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Camulus was jerked to his feet, his hands roughly bound behind him. He was shoved through the door, and into the corridor.

"Damn it, Jack, you can't do this!" Daniel Jackson's voice echoed through the hallway.

"We are not going to discuss it, Daniel! She knew the risk! She took it! If she couldn't see this coming, that's not my fault!" General O'Neill's voice was full of anger.

"It doesn't work that way! Please, oh god, no! Daniel! Please don't let them do this to me!" Casey pleaded.

He closed his eyes. He could hear the fear in her voice. He jerked free of the men who held him, turned around to see four armed Marines surrounding Casey. Jackson and O'Neill were directly behind them. The younger man continued to try to get to his wife, only to be pulled back by the older man, even as she was continually pushed forward. "Let her go!" Camulus roared.

Daniel and Jack turned to face the Goa'uld. "You son of a bitch!" Daniel shouted. He ran toward Camulus, reached for him, pulled his fist back ready to hit the man.

Jack grabbed him. "Save your strength, Daniel. You're going to need it." His voice was cold. He stared daggers at the Goa'uld. "I'll make sure that you have a monitor so that you can watch the execution."

Daniel gasped. "Oh, god, Jack, no! You can't be serious! It's not her fault that she didn't see this! She's told you that she can't predict the future!"

"She said we could trust this bastard. She went traipsing through his head and told us we could trust him!" Jack insisted. He turned to the guards who stood watching and listening, shock visible on their faces. "Get him out of here!" he hissed.

Camulus had one last glimpse of Casey as she was pushed into the cell he had just been taken from. "Forgive me," he said softly, tears filling his eyes. He looked at O'Neill. "What do you want…what will it take to save her?"

"Nothing you have to offer," the gray-haired man spat.

"I can give you everything I know about every Goa'uld in three sectors."

Jack hesitated.

"Please, Jack," Daniel begged. Hoped he was as convincing as his friend and his wife.

"I'll think about it." Jack turned on his heel and walked back toward the elevator.

"I'll kill you myself!" Daniel hissed, before following his CO. "Jack! Wait a minute! Don't think I’m going to just sit back and let you kill my Wife!"

Camulus slumped onto the cot in the narrow room. His instincts had been correct. She had been telling the truth! He leaned his head back against the wall, tears streaming down his face. First Cara, now Casey. He cried out, sobs tearing from his throat.

The guards outside of the room exchanged puzzled looks. And recorded the sounds of anguish that filled the cell that they guarded.

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